iOS 12 Released
Apple today officially released iOS 12, the latest operating system designed for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. iOS 12 is available on all devices able to run iOS 11, which includes the iPhone 5s and later, the iPad mini 2 and later, the iPad Air and later, and the 6th-generation iPod touch.
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iOS 12 is a major update that brings several new features and upgrades to Apple’s iOS devices, along with some significant performance improvements. Apple has revamped the operating system from top to bottom to make iPhones and iPads, especially the older models, faster and more responsive.
I didn’t realize this until charting it, but the number of iOS upgrades that each iPhone gets has increased every two years since the original launch.
iOS 12 isn’t Apple’s Snow Leopard release: its system changes and updated apps wouldn’t justify a “No New Features” slide. However, for the first time in years, it feels as if the company is happy to let its foot off the gas a little and listen to users more.
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I’ve been reviewing Apple apps and iOS releases for almost a decade now; I believe Shortcuts is the most beautiful, creative piece of software the company has ever shipped. Shortcuts is a new kind of command line for iOS – a tool to visually script any app and feature of iOS – but it’s also something else entirely. More than Workflow before it, Shortcuts is a productivity playground in between the OS and apps – a place for users to create their own enhancements to iOS; a lab where every iOS user is free to experiment, chain apps together, remix actions, and tie everything back to Siri.
There’s a lot I’d still like to see from Apple, from small details like rotation lock for everything but photos and video, to rounding out foundational technologies with handoff for media and the ability to change default apps, to re-revolutions like a new Home screen experience and far deeper and more personal, though still private, context for Siri.
Maybe that’ll come tomorrow with iOS 13. Today, iOS 12 is the biggest sign yet that Apple is starting to think beyond multitouch interfaces by finally opening voice to all apps, and beyond current devices by pushing augmented reality so far, so fast.
But there’s more to iOS 12 than the average user will notice. It adds or expands upon a few ways for third-party developers to make different kinds of apps or to tap into the work Apple has done on Siri, machine learning, or augmented reality to bring new capabilities to those apps. iOS 12 also adds new features to Apple’s own apps—and many of those features are driven by the company’s machine-learning efforts.
In celebration of this week’s release of iOS 12, we’re sharing what we found after trawling through the API diffs from iOS 11.4 to 12. (As it were, many of these are still undocumented, so proceed with caution).
Shortcuts in iOS 12 let you get things done with your apps, with just a tap or by asking Siri. In addition to running shortcuts available on your iOS device, you can use the Shortcuts app to create custom shortcuts, simplifying everyday tasks by combining steps across multiple apps.
Foundation Release Notes (finally):
Foundation in macOS 10.14, iOS 12, watchOS 5, and tvOS 12 includes new features, API changes, and deprecations.
Update (2018-09-20): Nicholas Riley:
iOS 12: best upgrade ever. Awesome job folks. If this is the worst I see...
The keyboard switcher (world icon) and the number toggle key (123) are swapped on the iPad, but remain in the same positions on the iPhone. Whomever decided to change this is an unqualified moron, since the inconsistency is maddening and I am constantly hitting the wrong key.
The Shortcuts app broke pretty much every single workflow I had (which I was expecting), and can’t even access third-party storage providers outside iCloud Drive.
4 Comments RSS · Twitter
@Rob Fixed; thanks.
From Viticci's review:
> iOS 12 is a pleasure to use and navigate, with fewer graphical glitches than iOS 11 and an overall sense of fine-tuning that had been missing for some time now.
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> For the first time in years, not only will you get new features by updating your device to the new version of iOS, but you'll get a considerably better, faster, and more stable device too.
This resonates with me. I didn't run the betas, so this is my first day using iOS 12. So far, I'm really impressed:
- My SE has never felt so fast. Everything is significantly more responsive.
- Typing on the keyboard feels as instantaneous as it did back in the early iOS days.
- I've never had a phone with 3D touch, so the hold-spacebar-to-get-a-trackpad feature is a revelation. Any improvements to text input are a big win.
- Larger tap targets to clear the notification screen are great.
- 1Password integration the way it should be!
- Etc etc. Generally it feels like there's been lots of TLC given to small details throughout.
Well done Apple.
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I think there's either a missing attribution, or unintentional indentation, for the paragraph that starts “I’ve been reviewing”.